Seventh Annual Learners’ Open Day (2015)

The seventh annual Learners’ Open Day was hosted by the Divisions of Human Genetics, Chemical Pathology, Medical Biochemistry and Cell Biology at the University of Cape Town Medical School on the 31st of August 2015. The incredibly successful event was attended by more than 200 learners from as far as the Karoo!

Learners and their teachers were treated to scientifically-themed goodie bags and classroom resources and put through their paces in a series of lectures and workshops throughout the day. The lecture content ranged from genetics and disease, the pathology of familial hypercholestremia and personalized medicine and the interactive hands-on workshops challenged students to the molecular diagnosis of a “patient”, solving a highly complex crime, detangling a family history using genetic counselling and navigating through the complexities of stem cell research. The day concluded with an engaging discussion on career development and the road to becoming a UCT graduate as well as a prize-giving for the most enthusiastic budding scientists.

Our kind sponsors that contributed to the success of our event were: Inqaba Biotec, Whitehead Scientific, Lasec, SAASTA, UCT Admissions and UCT Faculty of Health Sciences.

Student responses after the day indicated the following:

“…insightful…”
“…good reality of a career path in science…”
“…how to prepare to get here…”

Overall, a successful endeavour inspiring future generations to consider a career in medical science.